4 Busy Whites

yep, Chelcie is actually sewing! Chelcie has just completed quite an Early American Literature project. She had to learn about an Early American author...she picked Mark Twain. She had to read a book written by 1930....she picked "The Prince and The Pauper". She had to write a paper on the author and then another paper on the book. Then comes the ridiculous part....can you tell Mom was less than excited about this! Chelcie had to come up with a "Pioneer" craft depicting something about the book she read. Oh, she could make a quilt square with a scene from the book (NOT), she could make stained glass with a scene or design from the book (NOT), she could make a wood carving (NOT)...I am still unsure how ANY of this "busy work" ties in to a Language Arts class! In the end, Doug had the great idea of making a cloak: purple on one side representing the royalty of the one boy in the book and then a tattered burlap type of fabric on the back side representing the poor, pauper boy in the story. This all had to be done by hand...no sewing machine. We were quite impressed with what Chelcie came up with as she cut out the design and sewed it together. Next week she does an oral presentation in her class on her whole project....we are hoping her teacher has her wear the cloak! Chelcie says she'll die if she has to wear it....we will see!

I took the day off work to go with Madison and her class to the San Juan Capistrano mission. It was a beautiful day! We had a tour of the mission and then had our lunch. Afterward, there was a hands on learning session where the kids learned about making adobe. They got to use a mold and adobe and actually make a small adobe "brick". We brought it home and it's outside. Each day for 3 days Madison has to turn it over. At the end of the 3 days, she should have a solid brick like the ones used to build the mission!

Today is Memorial Day.....more than "just a day off" we have told our girls. It is so incredibly wonderful to live in a nation that has been so blessed by God and that has been fought for by such an incredible number of heros!

Chelcie took some amazing pictures during her trip to Washington D.C. that really capture the spirit of our nation.

We give thanks to those who have served and we fall to our knees in prayer to The One who has blessed. These are such trying times with only continued challenges on the horizon. Our hope cannot be placed in our military, political contests or even the value of the American dollar:

"If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

Well, regular season is over anyway. Here are a few shots of one of Chelcie's final games. She loves catching!!! Check out the 2nd picture and see how she's up from her catching "squat"...there's a runner on 1st base who will try to steal 2nd and Chelcie is preparing to throw down to make the out (she loves that!). I do not know how she catches the entire game??? This particular game she played the last inning at Short Stop, which she likes too. She was recognized by her coach that night and received the game ball!

This has been a bit emotional as she has played this city "rec ball" league since she was 8 so this marks the end of a chapter in her life. Next year, she will be trying out for her La Quinta High School team.

She has been asked to play on the Palm Desert All Star team for the 7th year. This means our season is not over until July. She is looking forward to playing at a higher level of play and traveling to tournaments with girls she really enjoys playing alongside!

Great regular season Chelcie, it has been such a pleasure watching you develop your game and seeing such a passion for this sport. God has gifted you and don't forget that you can play to the best of your abilities and be an incredible influence on those around you....all as an act of worship to The One who has blessed you!

Tuesday evening we headed to Madison's school for the annual "Festival of Nations" event. This is a school wide event where each grade spends time learning about different continents/regions, etc. and then classes set up areas around the school campus to display their projects, have games, traditional dances & foods, etc. The families then travel their way around the "world" & experience each area. The students even have a passport to get stamped. 4th grade learned about Oceania and Madison specifically worked on the island of Kiribati. It was quite a warm evening so Madison really enjoyed a popcicle from "Antarctica"!

Great job Peanut....we had fun!

Over the weekend we had the honor of attending an amazing celebration. Our great friends, the Ostendorf's, held a "Coming of Age" evening to honor their daughter Abby. There were about 30 family and friends there. The evening started off with swimming followed by a great dinner. Afterward, we all gathered together to hear Abby's dad, Craig, speak words of love, praise and blessing into Abby's life. Craig had asked Doug to say a few words as well. Doug spoke of our family's love for Abby and what a privilege it has been watching her grow from kindergarten into an amazing young woman and what a blessing her friendship is to our Chelcie. Our time was closed in prayer for Abby with her friends gathered in close and laying hands on her. It was a very touching evening!

Where, oh where did she go??? Madison was cleaning her room this weekend and has decided that she no longer wants her "Bitty Baby" doll stuff! Wait, this can't be happening! I guess it does, eventually. She has informed me that she will be keeping her baby "Megan" though and will keep it forever! I told Doug we need to box up the doll stuff and put it in the garage to save for "someday"....wait, didn't we just get our garage cleaned? Oh, well, here we go again!

Amanda is my official pick to win! Let's see how this all plays out tonight....

Jody brought the kids out last night so we all got together at Lolo & Papa's today. It was a gorgeous pool day!

Sandy loves chocolate covered strawberries so we decided to make her some for Mother's Day. We had fun making them and she had fun eating them! Yes, she did share with the rest of us and they tasted as great as they look!

That's what this Mother's Day morning was! We went to church Saturday night and spent this morning just hangin' out. Doug made me one of my favorite breakfasts of his.....amazing crab cakes with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce....YUMMY! Breakfast was followed by receiving very beautiful cards from my wonderful family. Thanks guys for a great day!

As I think about Mother's Day and what it means, I am overwhelmed with emotion to think of God's plan to include this amazing blessing in my life! My heart overflows with love for our girls and what a privilege it is to be their mom. No, it's not all picture perfect and some days are more challenging than others. To think, though that I get to play a part in God's ultimate plan for the lives of His precious girls really brings me to a place of such humility and daily dependence on Him! I am blessed beyond compare and I couldn't ask for more. On this Mother's Day I thank my beautiful girls for the amazing gift that they are to me every single day. I love you Boopers and Peanut! Love, Mommy OXox

Yep, that's how long we have lived in our house and have not been able to park in the garage! Last weekend, while I was in Lake Arrowhead, Doug and the girls made a major dent in the garage. Doug and I finished up this morning and had my Explorer in the garage by noon!

God is so good to me! Every year in May, my friend Terri and I head off to a scapbooking weekend of some sort. This year's trip was just not in the budget. One of the women in our home Bible study group (Kris) mentions that we should all plan a weekend to head up to her mom's house at Lake Arrowhead and scrapbook for the weekend. This was the weekend we have been planning....we headed up on Friday and were welcomed by Kris who was already there. The house was just amazing and right on the Lake. I had a beautiful room and could not believe the amazing lake view I had from my bed! I had to take a picture! We had a great weekend of fun, scrapbooking (I got about 18 pages done in Chelcie's middle school album), great conversation and just taking in God's beautiful creation and goodness! He doesn't have to but He continues to give me the desires of my heart!